Stress Management Therapy
Stress is a natural human response to certain situations- but not everyone deals with stress in a healthy way. If you’re experiencing chronic stress that’s negatively affecting your life and your well-being, our stress management therapy in the United States can help.
Stress is something that everyone experiences. Even newborn babies experience it when they are not fed in a timely manner or if they are not soothed enough. No matter which way you look at it, there is no way to escape stress. As we grow and learn, however, we can develop skills that help reduce both the presence of our symptoms and how we cope with them. Oftentimes, reducing stress in your life comes down to learning proper relaxation techniques and working with a professional counselor.
Unfortunately, not everyone achieves a strong skill set in relation to stress, which can leave some vulnerable to suffering the effects of it. Instead, people who don’t know how to cope might abuse drugs or alcohol, hurt their loved ones, and suffer tremendously from the effects of stress. If this sounds like you, rest assured that stress management therapy and minor lifestyle changes will provide you with the necessary skills to handle stress correctly.
How Do Addiction and Stress Relate to One Another?
Stress has been linked to depression, anxiety, cardiovascular problems, insomnia, frequent illness, and more. Although avoiding stress completely is impossible, stress affects nearly every aspect of a person’s life.
- Irritability
- Poor concentration
- Procrastination
- Changes in appetite
- Biting fingernails or engaging in other nervous behavior
- Mood swings or battles with mental health
- High blood pressure
An increase in substance abuse is also a common symptom of stress because many people turn to the use of drugs or alcohol to experience relief. However, people who abuse drugs and/or alcohol as a means of coping are not developing healthy skills and run the risk of becoming addicted. Once addiction develops, all the symptoms of stress they were experiencing before might multiply and become exacerbated. This leads to a vicious and exhausting cycle of self-medication and substance abuse.
Many people who develop a substance use disorder experience the negative impacts of stress after they start using drugs or alcohol. After all, the disease of addiction is stressful in itself, often causing stress to develop when a user:
- Is unable to get drugs or alcohol and is experiencing cravings and/or withdrawal symptoms
- Is coming down from a high and experiencing a drastic shift in mood
- Has no way of getting enough money to fund drugs or alcohol
- Loses his or her job or is expelled from school for substance abuse
- Suffers interpersonal problems caused by substance abuse
- Continues to use despite not wanting to
- Battles a mental health condition in addition to drug or alcohol addiction
Stress and addiction play into each other like a continuous cycle. One factor impacts the next. Before you know it, both stress and addiction are occurring at the same time. Thankfully, if you are struggling with both issues, there is help available. A Forever Recovery provides stress management therapy in the United States as part of our addiction treatment and mental health program.
Signs You Need Stress Management Therapy
- Memory problems
- Difficulty concentrating
- Poor judgment
- Pessimism
- Anxiety or constant worry
- Depression
- Agitation
- Anger or irritability
- Feeling overwhelmed most of the time
- Loneliness
- Isolating from friends and family
- Changes in eating habits
- Changes in sleeping patterns
- Getting sick often
- Aches and pains
- Loss of sex drive
- Development of nervous habits
- Using drugs or alcohol to cope
- Procrastination
There are a ton of situations that cause stress levels to increase – some are acute and some are chronic. Either way, if your symptoms become chronic, that’s a tell-tale sign that you could benefit from stress management.
Group Therapy for Stress Management
Stress management therapy helps individuals learn how to cope with stress. As a result, it stops being a source of negativity in their lives. Dealing with stress is not something that is naturally ingrained in all people. That is why professional counseling services can help.
Stress relief counseling that occurs in a group setting brings together individuals who are all experiencing stress at rates that they can no longer manage in their lives. For many, stress is also accompanied by addiction. These groups allow participants to connect with and relate to one another while learning from each other’s experiences.
- Identifying core stressors
- Learning the warning signs of stress
- Developing skills to help manage feelings of stress before they become overwhelming
- Enhancing focus and attention through compartmentalization
- Figuring out what to avoid in order to prevent stress from being triggered
- Learning how to apply these new relaxation techniques coping mechanisms toward everyday life
- Building a support group
As with most behavioral therapies, stress therapy that is conducted in a group setting is often highly beneficial to everyone. Of course, stress management is also offered through individual therapy, but it is often in groups where people learn the most. After all, everyone who is involved in stress therapy shares with one another and offers a listening ear.
Participants get the opportunity to make progress in the way they deal with stress while listening to and learning from the progress and experiences of others. Stress management therapy allows individuals to complete exercises with one another, such as role-playing a stressful situation and determining how to mitigate it.
The most beneficial aspect of group therapy is the support that participants obtain from one another. Through stress management group therapy, however, individuals obtain support and utilize it to continue to make progress while being held accountable by group members.
Get Help Today From our Stress Management Therapy in the United States
If you are experiencing stress, addiction, or any other issue that is negatively impacting your life, reach out to us in the United States today. We understand what you are going through and we are here to help.
Our team of mental health and addiction experts will devise a custom treatment plan that addresses both your stress and your substance abuse. Using psychotherapy and cognitive-behavioral therapy techniques, we’ll help you examine where your stress comes from and help resolve those issues. In addition to therapy, we’ll help you acquire healthy lifestyle habits that can help reduce your symptoms and improve your overall quality of life.
Don’t wait for one more second to ask for the help that you deserve. Call us today.